Hello people! Please tell me how do you accept your ocd? I have been well for a long now and the scariest things for me are the relapses, not thoughts. Right now i feel very bad because i had a relapse and im scared that my whole life will be like this. How do you act when your ocd is trying to come back?

Jesse Miller

188d ago

A strong reminder for me every day is that recovery is not linear. There are still days where I am incredibly anxious and sometimes still very obsessive. I accept that I might accidentally do a compulsion, but will try my best to prevent doing them in the future. If I sense myself falling back into certain patterns, I express my worries to my therapist and ask for advice. Try writing down some worst case scenarios if you always continue relapsing. How bad will it actually be? You got this! Don’t let your OCD convince you otherwise

Anonymous

188d ago

Thanks for sharing your current experience. I would say that you should be very proud of yourself for 1st noticing the anxiety, distress, and discomfort and letting those feelings of anxiety, fear, etc. be there.This is a perfect time to as I like to say "practice" ERP. Practice not analyzing any of those points you mentioned and place your attention on this present moment. Feel your feet on the ground, take a deep breathe, go for a walk, read, go hangout with a close companion, or play a sport. Not avoiding the discomfort, but choosing to do things you want to do and not give any attention to dwelling on that.The most important part being the response prevention. Not easy, but part of the work. When this type of situation occurs and we are in environments in which we are organically exposed to distress, use this as an opportunity to practice doing the work! This allows for two things; showing yourself you can handle and tolerate it, and also letting your body know that although you feel uncomfortable you are willing to keep doing whatever it is you are doing and getting on with your day! This is the foundation!